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E39 (1997 - 2003) The BMW 5-Series (E39 chassis) was introduced in the United States as a 1997 model year car and lasted until the 2004 when the E60 chassis was released. The United States saw several variations including the 525i, 528i, 530i and 540i. -- View the E39 Wiki

Wow!!! that one was less complicated than mine. Mine was a PAIN ON THE A$$ to remove the motors that control the height and tilt of the seat. Mine is a 2002 525i. I uploaded a video on you tube so if this video helps anybody it'll serve its purpose..

Wow!!! that one was less complicated than mine. Mine was a PAIN ON THE A$$ to remove the motors that control the height and tilt of the seat. Mine is a 2002 525i. I uploaded a video on you tube so if this video helps anybody it'll serve its purpose..

My wifes parents gave her their old 2009 E60 (what horrible parents, huh?) and shes been pregnant for the last 6 months so ive been driving the E60 over my old E39.

Now that ive been spoiled with this thing - and as much as I have loved driving my E39 its time to sell it so that I can purchase a F10.

The biggest issues with the E39 is the seats - they both twist. Driver side seat recline twists on the left - while the passenger seats recline and tilt both twist.

I watched a video today about the wire snipping method - however they said that you are to feel the wire while you engage the motor and snip the one that doesn't vibrate. But they both vibrate.

I'd guess that I would snip the wire that effects the side that does not move - but I didnt want to do anything until I talked with some others who have performed the seat twist fix already.

BTW: If anyone is looking to sell a late model E60 M5 or an early model F10 M5 in the Southern California area let me know. Also it has to be black exterior - black interior and manual transmission (thats not asking for too much is it?)

The e39 I just bought had seat twist on both side, the back recline and also the seat bottom height. I was able to fix both adjustments on both seats without removing anything, with just a razor blade and needlenose visegrips. Lucky me!

EDIT: I must admit, it's confusing, even after looking at the realoem diagrams and trying to compare them to the pictures in this thread ...

Quote:

Originally Posted by bluebee

I have both my front seats askew (one has a "seat bottom tilt" while the other has the "seat back twist"), and am waiting for that round tuit, to fix them, so, I'll be looking at this thread for details...

In the meantime, this is, supposedly, the canonical thread currently in the bestlinks, for reference ... (but I think we need a "more canonical" thread):
- How to repair seat twist (1)

In hindsight, we probably need a better compendium of seat-twist related threads other than what is in the bestlinks to date ... which is this list:
- Seat cables that fall out causing seat twist (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8) (9) (10)

When I work on my front seats, I'll see if I can compile a better listing of threads, so we all benefit.
Meanwhile, I lurk ...

EDIT: Looking at Realoem for my 2002 525i with (I think) non-sport, heated seats, with memory, I'm confused which motor is which, as there are two dozen diagrams to choose from (and I'm not even sure how to tell which seat I have, as I don't know my E39 option code for the seats).

NOTE: I don't know how much it matters whether you have the "sport" seat, or the "comfort" seat, and whether they're heated, or if they have memory (or if the headrest is electrical) but you can figure out your original seats by entering your VIN into this VIN decoder, which provided a PDF of my car showing my seats are (confusingly):
a. S459A Sitzverstellung elektrisch mit Memory Seat adjuster, electric, with memory (I think this is the non-sport comfort seat?)
b. S470A Isofix-System Isofix-System (aka "babyseat latches")
c. S494A Sitzheizung Fahrer/Beifahrer Seat heating driver/passenger (aka "heated seats")On this diagram (titled: "FRONT SEAT FRAME MECH./EL./SINGL.PARTS"), the part #13 motor says "DRIVE F VERTICAL AND BACKR.TILT ADJUSTM" (which motor is that, in English?)
The other motor is on this diagram (titled: "FRONT SEAT RAIL ELECTRICAL/SINGLE PARTS"), the part #3 is called "DRIVE F LONGITUDINAL AND TILT ADJUSTMENT" (whatever that means in English):
Bill: I was hoping the diagrams would help you figure out the motors; but, they confuse me, not the least of which is what they call the identified motors:
A. (#13) DRIVE F VERTICAL AND BACKR.TILT ADJUSTM
B. (#3) DRIVE F LONGITUDINAL AND TILT ADJUSTMENT

Questions borne of diagramatic confusion:
Q1: Is #13 the backrest motor, while #3 the cushion motor?
Q2: Is #13 two motors in one?
Q3: What is the mystery motor (no part number) in the second diagram?
Q4: Do you have comfort seats (do they have an additional motor?)

After a few months of being frustrated with my seats and being afraid to have someone adjust them on me and make them twist, I finally got around to fixing them.

I ordered 1 set of the cables from ECS *just in case* I screwed something up. I'm glad I did, I'll go into that later.

I started out with the passenger side.. I actually took the entire seat out to see just how difficult it would be to replace the entire cable instead of cutting-heating the old ones. I could not figure out how to take out the 2 rear motors at the seat hinge. I had the screws out and all, but they would not budge. I think there might have been more screws on the top part under the seat cushion which would have involved removing the leather, etc. I moved on to the cutting-heating repair method everyone has been using, but on 1 cable, I cut too much... about 1/4" too much. I managed to get the entire cable out and use one from the new set I ordered, except I swapped the inner cable with a one of the slightly longer ones from one of the other cables in the new set.

I was not about to go through this mess for the driver side.

Sliding on the metal ends over the freshly cut cables can be frustrating due to the small teeth in the head not allowing you to slide the cable all the way back in. I got around this by putting the end of the metal head over a 3/8" ratchet extension and tapping down until it fit it like a sleeve. This pushes the teeth in. Once they are in, slide it over the cable and heat the area near the teeth until some of the black plastic from the cable begins to ooze through the small triangle of the tooth hole.

For the driver side, I unbolted the seat, tilted it back, and used an open ended 8mm wrench to slowly take the screws off the ends of the seat adjustment motors. I only took 2 of the 4 screws out on 1 side, and just loosened all the rest enough to have some movement as well as the 2 screws that screw the motor brackets from the front of the seat. I was only looking to have enough movement to release the cable from the motor. I also flexed the 2 metal arms that come down off the bracket (closest to the center of the seat) until I had enough room to work with a small 8mm socket. This was an incredible test of patience.. but it got around having to pull the whole seat out. Once I had the cables free, heated up the tips, pulled the heads off, cut about 1/4"-3/8" of the ends, tapped the heads over the ratchet extension as mentioned earlier, and slid them back on... blasted them with my BBQ lighter and viola, good as new.

This has got to be one of the most *unnecessarily* frustrating fixes I've done on the E39.